U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) (left) speaks as House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) (right) looks on during a news conference November 14, 2012 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Getty

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have entered a time warp. They want to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act. The election killed their political strategy (elect Mitt Romney, repeal the law), so now they want President Obama to sacrifice it in budget negotiations.

“President Obama has won re-election, but his health care law is still driving up costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire workers. As was the case before the election, Obamacare has to go,” Boehner wrote in a Cincinnati newspaper.

Boehner got the first part right: Obama won re-election.

The rest is the same spin we’ve been hearing since 2010. That’s when the tea party rode to national prominence by disrupting town hall meetings about health care and spreading misinformation about the law. Once fully implemented, the law is our best chance to hold costs down and extend coverage for people who lack insurance. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found last summer that the law will save us billions in the long-term. Obamacare will ultimately provide coverage for more than 30 million people who now lack insurance.

Some Republicans may still want to fight the old battles, but there are signs the public has moved on. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows that 49 percent want to keep or expand the law, and 33 percent wanted it repealed – down from 46 percent for repeal before the election. Boehner and Cantor need to wake up. And move on.